My brother and I spent many, many hours painting our Games Workshop figures for The Lord of the Rings. Honestly, I enjoyed the painting more than the actual gameplay, despite my attempts to go cross-eyed trying to get the paint on that elven armor just right.

I love seeing the new figures for The Hobbit movies when they come out, even if I’m not amassing a huge set nowadays. But I can understand the complaints of the people who are–these new miniatures are pricey.

Games Workshop has announced the pre-orders for miniatures for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Strategy Battle Game. The new figures include Girion of Dale, Thranduil, and Beorn in both bear and humanish form. And a bunch of Gundabad orcs, but I never could get too excited about painting the baddies.

Let’s talk about Beorn for a moment. The pieces look really pretty and I love that they have two forms for our favorite skinchanger. But as many people are pointing out on forums and gaming websites, the price of $50 for two pieces is a bit steep.

Head to the Games Workshop pre-order page and have a look for yourself. Maybe you’re an ardent fan and tabletop gamer who feels a mighty need to add the new Hobbit miniatures to your collection. What do you think of the prices? Let us know in the comments below.

Author: Lily Milos
Lily’s first experience with Tolkien was when the eccentric Mrs. H performed all of the characters from The Hobbit in her seventh grade class. In high school, she felt obliged to decline a second date with a boy who said he had no interest in reading The Lord of the Rings. In college, she unwisely decided to reread her beloved copy of The Hobbit during finals week, with only semi-disastrous results.
When not writing for Middle-earth News, Lily tries not to unnerve her coworkers and family with her extreme geekery, but somehow, Star Wars, Star Trek, Sherlock, Merlin, Doctor Who, The Princess Bride, Back to the Future, superheroes, Disney movies, and of course, Tolkien, seem to have relevance in EVERY conversation.